As I sat in the company of iconoclasts in a Youth Business Initiative (YBI) discuss meeting, I had no choice but to learn. First let me tell you the kinds of cerebral guys that were there – Peterside of Stanbic IBTC, Sulaiman of Accenture, Pastor Ighodalo, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, former Governor of Ekiti State and the list goes on – funny enough, it was not this caliber of people that taught me one of the most important lessons I learnt in 2010 but their presence actually made me sit-up to pay attention to the speakers. Did I tell you I was one of the speakers? Sorry for the diversion but it is important for my ego that you know that I speak in these kinds of meeting (lol).
Ok, back to the topic – the speaker was part of the editorial team of This Day Magazine (I think!). His story was not unusual but it was something he said that made me re-evaluate my thinking. It was a village where people went to the stream to fetch water and a man had the idea of creating a pipe from the stream to the village to reduce the stress of going all the way to the stream. After the man executed the plan, he started collecting funds (barter trade) from the villagers to save them from going through the stress of going all the way to the stream. After some months passed, the villagers came together and thought to themselves; “we are many and this is a single person collecting all the funds of the villagers, let us make a law to take this pipe invention from him”.
The speaker compared the story to the Nigerian situation where creativity is stifled by the people it was meant to protect. He continued his story – when the man that created the pipes was told of the new law that prevents him from collecting money for his invention, he was in a dilemma and so many thoughts came to him; “I have made so much from this invention, I could use what I have to bribe the village heads and they will restore my rights to collecting funds for my invention”. He knew that if he did this, the village heads will certainly agree but they will become so rich and build their own pipes – competition. “He could leave the pipe for them and live with all the money he has made”. This was not wise because his funds could finish one day and he had nothing to trade with.
Then a thought came to him; “he could empower the villagers with his money to specialize in their area of gifting and they will use this specialization to trade then he would make them feel what he felt when his invention was taking from him”. He reasoned when the villagers had enough skill to trade with, they will not be angry about his pipe invention but will be thinking of protecting their skill trade. So it came to pass that all the villagers had one skill or the other to trade with (fishermen, shoemaker, hunter, etc). In order for the villagers to keep their skill trade, they had to abolish the law and gave the man back his pipe invention. No man was envious of the other because every man brought something to the table and the man lived happily ever-after living off his pipes.
It is funny how a selfish and ambitious dream of a single man can salvage a village – this is what entrepreneurship is all about. It always leads to empowerment and specialization e.g. I have never heard the word GSM Engineer until the advent of GSM in Nigeria. Although the story was meant to teach entrepreneurship but it taught me the most important lesson in 2010; it is by focusing on one single thing in life that other things are created. This one thing must be something that you can see the future from the beginning; kindly note that it is what you see that you can achieve. It was by meditating through these thoughts that I discovered one of the most outstanding revelations – it does not matter what you do in life, as long as you are fruitful in it, you will dine with the Kings and Princes of the land.
The most outstanding comedian – Ali Baba – has the phone number of the president; the best tailor dines with the big shots of the land. Forget about present security; chase your dream with singleness of purpose. The Bible puts it this way; chase the Kingdom and everything will be added to you. The group picture above is our January 2011 PMP Class. This year, my vision is singular and it is to produce 50 Project Management Professionals (PMPs). A tall vision that will require a lot of effort and sacrifice but it will produce a lot of good business practice in the land, increase confidence in the working executives and will surely reduce the statistics of failed business start-ups in Nigeria. I commit to this vision, by God’s grace. Now I pass the question to you; what vision are you committed to? Have a lovely week!
